Chapter 181 - Chances, Choices, And Changes (1)

"I never thought of you as someone who knows his way in the kitchen." 

They had finished dinner. Noah was stacking the dirty dishes on the dishwasher, while Jess was sitting on the kitchen stool next to the island counter. 

She has a glass of wine that she has been swirling in her hand. She didn't have a plan to get drunk tonight. This is just her second glass. And also because it's not fun to drink when Noah only drinks flavored sparkling water. 

"I know a lot of ways…" he leered at her, who was wearing one of his old college hoodies, and a new pair of boxers. 

Her clothes were thrown in the washing machine so she could wear them tomorrow. 

"A lot of ways of what?" she scoffed. 

"Ways to get you out of that hoodie, out of my boxer...." he trailed his words as he slowly walked towards her, then stopped across from her at the island counter. 

He propped his elbow on the counter, leaned forward, and caught her mouth for a kiss. "Hmm, wine tastes much better from your mouth," he murmured against her lips. 

Jess curled her toes when she heard the sexy drawl from Noah's mouth. She tilted her head and kissed him back. 

"Which tastes better - the wine or me?" she asked, staring deeply into his eyes, while her tongue was darting at his lips - just how a kitten would do with its bowl of milk. 

"Minx," he groaned, grabbed her neck to catch her sly tongue, Jess giggled, and put her hand between their mouths. 

Noah's lips landed up on the inside of her palm. But her hand didn't deter Noah from kissing her. His tongue swirled in the middle of her palm. 

Jess sucked in some air when she felt Noah's tongue dancing on her palm. She released a soft moan when he gave her palm an open kiss. 

She was about to let herself lost from the sensation of his kiss when she had a glimpse of mischief in his eyes. She flicked his forehead using her left hand. 

"Nice try, Tiefenbacher," she scoffed. 

He chucked and playfully bit the soft muscle of her palm. "You are going to sleep in my bed tonight, Jessica. You can drag it out, but we both know where we are going to end up," he said, teasingly. 

"If you do more than this, Noah, I will go home." 

His eyes snapped from staring at her moist lips to her eyes to see if she meant what she said. And he saw the seriousness of those words in her eyes. Noah exhaled a deep breath. 'Taming Little Miss Jessie won't be as easy as he thought.' 

He smiled, and asked, "Coffee?"

"Kay," she agreed and finished her glass of wine. 

Noah took her empty wine glass and put it in the sink. "You can wait for your coffee in the living room."

"How about your bedroom balcony?" 

Noah arched his brow and laughed softly, "Tempting me to take you to the bedroom, minx?" 

Jess watched how Noah's lips curled up to a smirk that would spread into a wide smile. Her heart jumped in her ribcage as usual. 

She didn't answer his taunting. She just stared at him, as he leaned his hips against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his chest. She grinned inwardly, thinking those firm muscles of his chest and how Noah would gasp for air whenever she ran her hands and tongue on them. 

"When I was looking for a house, I saw this apartment too. I like it first," a smile escaped her mouth when she saw Noah suddenly perked up in attention. "I fell in love with the view of the master's bedroom balcony, but I ended up settling in my apartment because this place is just too big for me." 

"Isn't it convenient that your neighbor happened to have his house and his master's bedroom open for you 24/7?" he grinned, clearly back on his teasing, that's always full of sexual innuendos. 

"Convenient, indeed. So, can I use that privilege now?" she crooked her eyebrow at him. 

"You know your way. I'll just follow you with your coffee." 

Jess jumped off the kitchen stool and headed in the direction of the master's bedroom. Just as he said, she knew her way around. She's quite familiar with the floor plan of his apartment. 

She was in the hallway on the way to his bedroom, when she decided to tease him too. 

"Hey, Noah! Can I look under your bed?" she asked, chuckling. 

"You can!" he yelled back. "But, you won't see my collection there. I like my porn as a moving picture. Try my computer. There's a folder there with your name on it." 

"Pervert!" she yelled, as she dashed to his bedroom. 

Noah left alone in the kitchen, strained his ears to listen to Jess dashing to his bedroom. He wondered if she would really look under his bed. 

A soft chuckle escaped his throat, a familiar warm feeling engulfs his heart. He found himself whistling as he turned the coffeemaker and prepared two cups of coffee. 

He wasn't in a hurry with his task because he was giving Jess time to explore his bedroom. He shook his head and grinned in amusement.

His bedroom was too boring for her to find any point of interest. 

Not only is there nothing interesting in his bedroom, but also this whole place. He took this apartment with his daughter in mind. 

The building has tighter security compared to others. The location is great because it is located near a park. Necessity stores are also within the vicinity and just like Jess said, the view from the master's bedroom is amazing. 

And yet, he barely spent time there. He was mostly at the office and the longest time he spent inside his own house was when Lucille was here. 

The rest of the time, he was just at work or staying in some hotels. 

But he has a feeling that his lifestyle will change soon. He should convince Jess to leave clothes in his closet. Or he could shop for some clothes for her to wear. 

He was thinking of clothes to wear outside because inside his apartment, he loves her in his clothes - just as she is today or naked would be a better preference too. He grinned.